Global spotlight

Chris Leftwich rounds up the recent biennial World Seafood Congress, held in the UK for the first time in its 20-year history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0k3Mz1p9eI
The 2015 World Seafood Congress (WSC) took place from 5-9 September at the Grimsby Institute. Run by the International Association of Fish Inspectors (IAFI) in partnership with Seafish, the industry authority on seafood, it was attended by more than 300 people from more than 25 countries around the world.
This year’s theme was “Upskilling for a Sustainable Future” and what could have been a more appropriate venue for the event than Grimsby, the seafood processing capital of the UK. The event started on the Sunday with a series of regional workshops covering Asia, Africa and South America. These were organised by IAFI in conjunction with colleagues from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, who had sponsored several delegates from developing countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGD5iN3QeeY
I chaired the morning session at which more than 60 delegates attended. In the afternoon the delegates split into their regional groups to talk about specific problems and issues related to their areas.
The main congress started each morning with a plenary session before splitting up into thre breakout groups covering, trade, sustainability and upskilling. The presentations throughout the congress were of a high standard and are available on the IAFI website.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uotSPddxeEU
One of the highlights of the congress was the after dinner-speech delivered by the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who regaled everyone with stories about his various adventures crossing the Arctic, Antarctic, the North West Passage and sandy deserts. It was a moving and highly amusing account of his incredible journey through life.
The media coverage throughout the event was excellent and culminated each evening with live panel interviews on Estuary TV, which are available on YouTube (and are scattered through this article). The congress ended with a presentation by Iceland, which is due to host the next WSC in Reykjavik in September 2017.
Chris Leftwich is chief inspector of the Fishmongers’ Company, one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of London (and the organisation behind Fish on Friday, among many other things), and a past president of IAFI.